Flatwork ironer



Patented Feb. 26, 1946 FLATWORK IRONER Joseph B. Sando, Kansas City, Mo assignor to Western Laundry Machinery Company, a corporation of Missouri Application December 13, 1940, Serial No. 370,039

8 Claims.

My invention relates to ironing machines, and more particularly to fiat work ironers.

A difliculty that has always existed in connection with flat work ironers, is that small wrinkles,

or what might be called crows feet, have existed in the work as turned out by the usual commercial type of fiat Work ironer. Many attempts have been made to remove these wrinkles, such as by feeding the work by means of conveyor ribbons, or bands, that tend to diverge toward the flat work ironer, so that the material of the work is stretched in a direction transversely of the direction of travel. Also other devices have been utilized for this purpose, but without complete success. I have devised a flat work ironer having a wrinkle removing roll, or finishing roll, which removes all of thewrinkles from the work before it engages with the stationary ironing member, or members, of said ironer. This is accomplished by providing a heated roll that cooperates with conveying means in such a manner as to take the wrinkles out of the work. This is accomplished by providing a much higher surface speed of the rotating roll than the lineal speed of the conveyor means in the form of bands, or ribbons, with which the roll cooperates. Also the roll is very highly heated on its surface, the combination of the high heat and the difference in speed of the ironing surface of the roll and of the conveyor means producing the wrinkle removing and smoothing effect that is desired.

It is particularly a purpose of my invention to provide such a wrinkle removing roll for fiat work ironers, in which conveying means comprising a plurality of ribbons, or bands, carries the work into engagement with a stationary shoe, or chest, whether the ribbons, or bands, also carry the work past the stationary chest, shoe, or shoes, or whether such work is carried past the shoes, or stationary ironing members, in some other manner. In either case, the conveying means made up of flexible ribbons, or bands, travels at a certain lineal speed, and the finishing roll rotates at such a speed that the lineal speed at its surface is much greater than that of the conveying bands, or ribbons, preferably,

' at least twice as great.

My invention is applied to a fiat work ironer in which the heating of the stationary chests, or shoes, is accomplished by means of a liquid, such as disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 368,836, filed December 6, 1940, on Heating means for ironers, patented July 13, 1943, Patent No. 2,324,029.

It is another purpose of my invention to provide means for adjusting the bands, or ribbons, aforementioned relative to said roll and convex stationary ironing members, simultaneously, so as to disengage said bands, or ribbons, from said roll and said stationary ironing members, when operation of said ribbons, or bands is stopped, to prevent any damage thereto by the heat of the roll or stationary ironing members, and to adjust the pressure of said bands, or ribbons, on the work.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description of the drawing proceeds. I desire to have it understood, however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular details shown or described, except as defined in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through an ironing machine embodying my invention, the showing being somewhat diagrammatical.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, partly broken away.

Fig. 3 is a section similar to Fi 2, of the left hand end of the roll shown in Fig. 2, on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 3-4 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, in Fig. 1 is shown an ironing machine, which has a frame, indicated generally by the numeral ii], on which is provided a receiving table Ii, over which conveyor means 12, made in theform of band-like members, extend to carry the work into the machine onto the conveyor made up of a plurality of band-like members l3 that operate over a series of rolls l5, l6, l1 and I8, said bands being driven in any desired manner, by any suitable driving means, any one of said rolls, such as the roll l5, for example, being driven from a suitable source of power and the remaining rolls rotating freely on their axes. The rolls l1 and I8 are adjustable so as to vary the tension of the bands I3 and vary the pressure exerted by said bands on the ironing surface formed on the convex side of the curved bottom wall 20 of the stationary ironing member, and against the surface of the roll 25, to be described below. The stationary ironing member is made in the form of a hollow chest-like member, or shoe, having vertical side walls 2| and end walls 22, the same being supported from the frame by suitable supporting members 23 in a manner described in my co-pending application, and said ironing member being heated, preferably, by a liquid discharged from a liquid distributing member 24, which is described more in detail in said co-pending application, the type of ironing machine shown generally in Fig. 1 being that disclosed in the application of William O. Manley, Serial No. 292,675, filed August 30, 1939, on Flat work ironer, patented May 8, 1945, Patent No. 2,375,426.

The preferred adjusting means for the conveyor bands, or ribbons, is shown in Fig. 1. While an ironing machine embodying my invention employs a plurality of stationary ironing chests, or shoes, and more than one conveyor, the finishing roll is only used at the entrance end of the machine and only one stationary ironing the outer cylindrical member 29 at the ends of said cylindrical members 29 and 39. Thus an annular passage 32 of a very restricted character is provided running lengthwise of the roll between the walls 29 and 38. A tubular member 33 is connected with the outer cylindrical member 29 by means of a connecting member 34, that is welded to the cylindrical member 28, and which is welded to, and fits against the shoulder 35 on, the member 33. A tubular member 35 is similarly connected by means of a member 31 with the other end of the cylindrical member is illustrated and only one set of conveyor bands shown. However, the adjusting means illustrated is utilized for adjusting the conveyor bands relative to all the ironing members simultaneously, and the structure whereby this is accomplished is shown in Fig. I. Said adjusting means comprises a plurality of arms 80 swingably mounted on stationary shafts, such as the stationary shaft 8| on the driven roll l5 and the stationary shaft 82. Fixed to said arms are worm wheels 83 which mesh with worms 84 on the shaft 85, which is connected with a similar shaft 85 by means of sprocket wheels 83 and a sprocket chain 81, one of said shafts being provided with a hand wheel 88,, at a convenient location, for rotating said shafts and swinging said arms about their pivots to tension the bands, orribbons, or release the same from all said ironing members and said roll simultaneously, the arms being swingable in the direction of the arrows on Fig. 1 to disengage the conveyor bands, or ribbons, from the heated ironing members and said roll.

A heated roll, indicated generally by the numeral 25 in Fig. 1, is provided between the roll I! and the stationary ironing member having the convex ironing surface on the outer face of the wall 20, above referred to, said ironing roll bein preferably, rotated by means of any suitable driving means, such as for example, by'means of a sprocket chain extending from a driven roller, such as the roller [6, to the roll 25, suitable sprockets 26 on the roll 16, and 21 on the roll 25 being connected by means of a chain 28, and it will be noted that the sprocket 2'! is substantially half the size of the sprocket 25, having substantially half the number of teeth of said sprocket 26. It will be obvious that as a result the outer surface of the roll 25 will have a lineal speed in excess of twice the lineal speed of the bands 13 where these contact the roll 25, the pressure with which said bands engage said roll being determined by the adjustment of the roll H.

The construction of the roll 25 is shown more in detail in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, comprising a central ironing portion that has an outer cylindrical wall portion 29 and an inner cylindrical wall portion 39, said wall portions being spaced apart by means of spacing members 31 so as to provide a narrow passage, or space, between said walls 29 and 30, the same being indicated by the numeral 32. The spacing members 3! are merely small rectangular block-like members, as will be evident from the drawing, that are welded to'the outer surface of the inner cylindrical member and to the inner surface of member 29. Said tubular members 33 and 36 serve as hollow shaft portions that are mounted in the bearings 38 provided on the frame ill. The sprocket member 21 is mounted to rotate with the tubular member 33 to thus drive the roll 25.

An inlet pipe 39 is provided, which extends from a fluid heater, preferably, a heater for a liquid that is of high boiling point, which is utilized for heating the roll, as well as the stationary ironing member, and a collar 48 is fixed on said inlet pipe 39, against which a rotatable collar 4| bears, said rotatable collar 4| bearing against the internal shoulder 42 provided in the tubular member 33. Said tubular member 33 is externally threaded at 43 and a packing nut 44 has internal threads engaging with the threads 43 to force a flanged collar 45, which is rotatably mounted on the member 39, into engagement with a plurality of plies of compressible packing 48. Thus a liquid tight joint is provided between the stationary pipe 39 and the rotatable tubular member 33, and said inlet pipe 39 empties into the inlet chamber 41, provided in the tubular member 33 and the connecting member 34 leading into one end of the annular passage 32. The tubular member 36 is provided with a similar means for providing a fluid tight joint between itself and the stationary outlet pipe 48, the space within the tubular member 36 and within the member 31 serving as an outlet chamber 49, which is connected with the outlet pipe 48, and into which the fluid passing lengthwise through the roll between the walls 29 and 39 discharged to be carried from the roll,

Preferably, a liquid is utilized to heat the roll, and it will be obvious that the chamber H between the end walls 50 and the cylindrical wall 38 is closed off from the heating liquid, the walls 50 being welded to the wall 38, as will be obvious. Thus the heating liquid will enter through the pipe 39 into the inlet chamber 41 and then flow at a rapid rate through the narrow, or restricted, passage 32 lengthwise of the roll in contact with the inner surface of the Wall 29, the outer surface of which serves as the convex ironin surface of the roll, and out through the outlet chamber 49 to the outlet pipe 48 back to the heating means for the heating liquid, or to any suitable apparatus that may be heated thereby before such return.

The roll 25 will thus be highly heated on the ironing surface thereof by the liquid, which i may have a temperature as high as 500 degrees Fahrenheit without boiling, and will be traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 at a rate at its surface about twice that. of the conveyor bands I3. This will exert a sort of longitudinal stretching action on the work as it passes between the roll 25 and the conveyor means l3 to thus smooth all the wrinkles out of the work. The work is thus smoothed out thoroughly when the same reaches the stationary ironing member having the wall 20 provided with the ironing surface.

What I claim is:

1. In a flat work ironer, a stationary ironing member having a convexly curved ironing surface on the under side thereof, means for feeding the work into engagement with said ironing member comprising flexible bands mounted to move across said ironing surface, means for adjusting the position of said bands, comprising a plurality of swingably mounted arms, rolls over which said bands operate mounted on said arms, and means for simultaneously winging a plurality of said arms about their pivots, and means for removing wrinkles from the Work being fed to said ironing member comprising a heated roll with which said bands engage, and means for rotating the same at a speed such that the lineal speed thereof at its surface is greater than the lineal speed of said flexible bands.

2. In a flat work ironer, a stationary ironing member having a convexly curved ironing surface on the under side thereof, means for feeding the work into engagement with said ironing member comprising flexible bands mounted to move across said ironing surface, means for adjusting the position of said bands, comprising a plurality of swingably mounted arms, rolls over which said bands operate mounted on said arms, and means for simultaneously swinging a plurality of said arms about their pivots, and means for removing wrinkles from the work being fed to said ironing member comprising a heated roll with which said bands engage, and means for rotating the same.

3. In a flat work ironer, means for feeding damp pieces of flat work to said machine, flexible means for conveying the work at a predetermined lineal speed receiving said damp pieces of work directly from said feeding means, a wrinkle removing roller heated to a high heat engaged substantially tangentially by said flexible means, means for rotating said roller at a much greater surface speed than the lineal speed of said conveyor, said work being solely supported by said flexible means during engagement of said wrinkle removing roller therewith, a stationary ironing memberclosely adjacent said wrinkle removing roller having a convex ironing surface over which said flexible means moves to engage the work therewith upon leaving said wrinkle removing roller in soft, warm, pliable condition and slide the same across said ironing surface, and means for supporting said flexible means to flexibly engage with said roller and ironing member with predetermined pressure, comprising a conveyor supporting roller spaced from said ironing member and wrinkle removing roller and adjustable toward and away from said wrinkle removing roller.

4. In a flat work ironer, means for feeding damp pieces of flat, work to said machine, flexible means for conveying the work at a predetermined lineal speed receiving said damp pieces of work directly from said feeding means, a wrinkle removing roller heated to a high heat engaged substantially tangentially by said flexible means,

, means for rotating said roller at a much greater surface speed than the lineal speed of said conveyor, said work being solely supported by said flexible means during engagement of said wrinkle removing roller therewith, a stationary ironing member closely adjacent said wrinkle removing roller having a convex ironing surface over which said flexible means moves to engage the'work therewith .upon leaving said wrinkle removing roller and slide the same across said ironing surface, and means for supporting said flexible means to flexibly engage with said roller with line contact and said ironing member with predetermined pressure, comprising conveyor supporting rollers spaced from said ironing member and wrinkle removing roller over which said flexible means passes before contacting said wrinkle removing roller and after crossing said stationary ironing member.

5. In a flat work ironer, a pair of rollers widely spaced from each other, flexible band conveying means extending over said rollers, means for driving said conveying means at a predetermined lineal speed, means for feeding damp pieces of fiat work directly onto said conveying means at one of said rollers, a stationary heated ironing member between said rollers having a convex ironing surface over which said flexible conveying means travels, said flexible conveying means extending substantially in a straight line from one of said rollers to said ironing member, a wrinkle removing roller mounted between said stationary ironing member and said roller at which the work is fed to said conveying means and engaging said straight portion of said conveying means substantially tangentially spaced relation to said roller and ironing member, said wrinkle removing roller being heated to a high heat, means for rotating said wrinkle removing roller at a much greater surface speed than the lineal speed of said flexible conveying means, and means for adjusting the position of said conveying means simultaneously toward and away from said ironing member and said wrinkle removing roller.

6. In a flat work ironer, a stationary ironing member having a convexly curved ironing surface, a plurality of flexible conveying members, supporting means for said flexible members spaced from said ironing member, said ironing surface and said supporting means lying on opposite sides of said flexible members and said flexible members extending substantially in a straight line free of any support between said supporting means and said ironing surface, and means for removing wrinkles from the work passing through said ironerprior to engagement with said ironing surface, comprising a heated roll having a much sharper curvature than said ironing surface, said roll being mounted substantially tangentially to said flexible members between and in spaced relation to said ironing member and said supporting means and having a much greater lineal speed at its surface than said flexible members.

'7. In a flat work ironer, a stationary ironing member having a convexly curved ironing surface, a plurality of flexible conveying members, supporting means for said flexible members spaced from said ironing member, said ironing surface and said supporting means lying on opposite sides of said flexible members and said flexible members extending substantially in a straight line free of any support between said supporting means and said ironing surface and extending across said ironing surface to feed the work into engagement with and hold the same in sliding contact with said ironing surface, and means for removing wrinkles from the work passing through said ironer prior to engagement with said ironing surface, comprising a heated roll having a much sharper curvature than said ironing surface, said roll being mounted substantially tangentially to said flexible members between and in spaced relation to said ironing member and said supporting means and having a much greater lineal speed at its surface than said flexible members.

8. In a flat work ironer, a stationary ironing member having a convexly curved ironing surfaceon the under side thereof, a plurality of flexible conveying members, supporting means for said flexible members spaced from said ironing member and adjustable to adjust said flexible members relative to said ironing surface, said ironing surface and said supporting means lying on opposite sides of said flexible members and said flexible members extending substantially in a straight line free of any support between said supporting means and said ironing surface and extending across said ironing surface to feed the work into engagement with and hold the same in sliding contact with said ironing surface, and means for removing wrinkles from the work passing through said ironer prior to engagement with said ironing surface, comprising a heated roll having a much sharper curvature than said ironing surface, said roll being mounted substantially tangentially to said flexible members between and in spaced. relation to said ironing member and said supporting means and having a much greater lineal speed at its surface than said flexible members.

JOSEPH B. SANDO. 

